Endosulfan

The Supreme Court has reserved its order on the exports of endosulfan for Friday September 30. The Court had met today to decide whether exports should be allowed or not. The petitioners , Democratic Youth Federation of India, requested for some more time as they had received the response from the joint committee very late and were unable to frame a response on the exports affidavit.

The complete report of the Calicut Medical College is now on our website. This has replaced the earlier brief version of the report. CSE received several mails in this regard and we were also accused of misleading the public. But here are the facts. The brief version of the report that was, on our website for a long time, was actually distributed during a press conference in Delhi by the then ex Kerala health minister. This study was released before the Indian contingent went for the Stockholm Convention to decide the fate of endosulfan.

'The industry has no experience of disposing pesticides and the Ministry of Environment and Forest have not provided any definite procedure for the purpose'- This was the reply of the Supreme Court appointed joint committee on endosulfan.

The Supreme Court on August 5 gave a three week extension to the Joint Committee to submit in its interim report details on the possibility of exports or disposal off the existing stocks of endosulfan.

The demand to ban endosulfan across the country could receive a double blow as both the counter affidavit of the Union of India and the Joint Committee Report of the DG-ICMR and Agriculture Commissioner seem to be riding on the unscientific use of endosulfan rather than the harmful impacts of the pesticide on human and animal health and the environment.

Excel Crop Care is back to attacking scientists. S Ganesan on behalf of Excel Crop Care, the biggest endosulfan manufacturer in the country, has sent a legal notice to the Calicut Medical college for their report on endosulfan. The report indicted endosulfan for the health problems of those living in the cashew plantations in Kasaragod, Kerala.

The Pesticides Manufactures and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) continues to be in denial on the role the pesticide had on the health of the people in Kasaragod. In a reply affidavit filed by the association, they have cited iodine deficiency, radiation and genetic inbreeding, as the cause for the health problems in the district.

The eight weeks deadline for the Supreme Court appointed joint committee on endosulfan ended on July 13. The hearing of the case is scheduled for July 15.

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The eight weeks deadline for the Supreme Court appointed joint committee on endosulfan ended on July 13. The hearing of the case is scheduled for July 15. The apex court had on May 13 ordered an interim ban on the use, manufacture and sale of the pesticide across the country, till further orders.

The Supreme Court appointed joint committee was unable to submit its interim report on endosulfan on July 15 and asked for another eight weeks to prepare the report. On the other hand, the pesticide manufacturers and formulators association of India, one of the respondents in the case, pleaded with the court to give an immediate relief to them to allow exporting the pesticides, the stocks for which were already present with the manufacturers.

Day 5: With no consensus reached on white asbestos, its back to square one. The only progress was India changing its stand and therefore one less country to convert in the next COP session. Canada continues to remain the villain. India on the other hand earned some more brownie points by agreeing to list endosulfan in the PIC list or the Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention.

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Day 5: With no consensus reached on white asbestos, its back to square one. The only progress was India changing its stand and therefore one less country to convert in the next COP session.